


Mistakes

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, very vague hint of two/jamie but you could easily ignore it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 06:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13630449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: Sometimes Jamie is too diligent in protecting the Doctor.





	Mistakes

The research base was quiet. Too quiet, Jamie thought with a shiver, glancing out the window. Its resident scientists seemed untroubled by the barren wasteland outside, but something about it put Jamie on edge. Even after years of travelling with the Doctor, the sight of worlds without trees or grass or running water unsettled him. Flicking a switch on the band at his wrist, he adjusted his headset, thumping at it when he was met only with static. At last, the Doctor’s voice sounded through the tinny connection, and he relaxed a little. The Doctor and Zoe were beginning to feel like the only bright points on this dull asteroid.

“… this is what the connection is like at the moment,” the Doctor was saying. Jamie settled down in a nearby alcove to listen, tucking his legs up under himself and resting his head against the wall. If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend that the groaning of the power generators was the familiar wheezing of the TARDIS. Almost. “Perfectly fine to supply colony power, but the reactor here is rather more heavy-duty, you might say.” Something was hissing in the background, and Jamie caught the faint sound of a few gasps. “This is what’s happening to your power supply. It’s not alien influence, or space insects, or sabotage. Just a simple technical fault.” He chuckled. “That’s what you get for leaving computers to set up your bases.”

Closing his eyes, Jamie let himself slip into a half-doze as he listened to the Doctor talk. Occasionally, Zoe’s voice crept into the recording, usually to correct the Doctor. Their words filled him with relief, when he could understand them. If the Doctor was right, and the problem was simple, they would be going home soon. Perhaps tomorrow, he mused. Or even that very night. The Doctor and Zoe might be enjoying themselves, but he was sick of processed food and idleness and cold metal corridors. The sooner they could be away from the base, the better.

The Doctor had entered into a spirited debate concerning the nature of the base’s reactor, and he could not help but smile. He could perfectly imagine him stamping his foot in outrage, cheeks puffing out as his frustration mounted. The raised voices of the scientists were creeping into the recording too now, though the Doctor seemed to have the upper hand in the argument. His contempt for the company funding their enterprise was obvious – and justified, from what Jamie understood.

Just as the argument seemed to be settling down, the Doctor gave a loud yelp of pain. Jamie sat bolt upright, ripping the headpiece from his ear and rushing off towards the laboratory. Perhaps someone had struck the Doctor in anger, he thought. The company’s ambassador, Adams, most likely. Or perhaps the Doctor had been wrong, and they were facing some threat. Either way, he did not want to leave anything to chance. The corridor he had been following came to a dead end, and he glanced at the map blinking on his wristband. Realising he had read it backwards, he shook his head and doubled back on himself. He could be wasting valuable time.

At last, he burst through the door to the laboratory, one hand already on the hilt of his knife. He froze when he saw that the room was almost perfectly quiet, the scientists working dutifully at their workbenches. The Doctor looked up from his own task, smiling brightly when he saw Jamie. “Hello, Jamie! I didn’t think we’d take so long -” He looked Jamie up and down, taking in the hand resting on his knife and his heaving chest. “Is something wrong?”

He seemed unharmed. Jamie allowed himself to relax a little, though he still glanced around at the scientists suspiciously. “I heard ye cry out,” he said. “I thought ye might’ve been in trouble.”

“Trouble?” The Doctor frowned at him. “No, no trouble here. We had – ah – something of a disagreement, but – well. Representative Adams has elected to leave the laboratory, and we’ve been progressing quite nicely ever since.”

“Oh. Right.” Jamie stepped closer and dropped his voice. “They havenae hurt ye? Adams didn’t -”

“Hurt me?” the Doctor echoed. “Of course not! They’re really quite friendly people, Jamie.”

“But ye were arguing – and then ye sounded like ye were in pain -”

“Oh, that!” The Doctor burst into laughter. “Nobody hurt me, Jamie.”

Jamie crossed his arms over his chest. Maybe the Doctor was hiding something from him, he thought. Or being controlled somehow. “Then what happened?”

The Doctor hefted a power pack into his arms. “I dropped this on my foot,” he said. “It’s quite alright now.”

“Oh.” Jamie’s cheeks reddened. Of all the possible situations that had occurred to him, the Doctor’s own clumsiness had not been one of them. “So everything’s fine here.”

“Quite fine,” the Doctor said, still laughing. One of the scientists turned to glare at him, and he quietened down. “Were you trying to protect me from the powerpack, Jamie?” he asked teasingly.

“No – aye – maybe!” Jamie buried his face in his hands. “It’s no’ my fault. It’s hardly as if ye never get into trouble.”

“I suppose not.”

“And more often than not, when something happens ye need my help -”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” The Doctor drew up a chair. “Here you are. You might as well stay and help me with this box.”

Jamie huffed, but sat down beside the Doctor anyway. “This wasnae exactly what I had in mind when I said ye need my help, ye know. I meant with fighting monsters. Why not get Zoe tae help?”

“Oh, Zoe’s busy,” the Doctor said, waving one hand towards her. She seemed distracted, and hastily looked down at her own work when she realised she was being watched, but Jamie did not mention it. He suspected that the Doctor wanted his company more than anything, and he could not complain about that. It had been odd, only talking normally with the Doctor late at night and early in the morning. “Besides, you’re more than capable.”

“If ye say so.” He pulled the box towards him. “What’re we doin’, then?”


End file.
